Large-flowered triteleia is a spring wildflower that holds a loose cluster of pale blue, bell-shaped flowers at the top of a smooth, bare stalk. It grows from an underground bulb and sends up only two or three long, grasslike leaves, so in a grassy opening the flower cluster can be easier to spot than the plant itself.
It is a plant of open, sunny places that are often dry by summer: prairies, grassy slopes, rocky balds and forest openings, from the lowlands up to middle elevations. It flowers from mid-spring into early summer, and bumblebees and other bees, flies and beetles visit the blossoms.
Each flower is a short tube that opens into six spreading lobes, light bluish purple to nearly white, with six stamens attached inside the tube at two different levels. Two forms grow in the Northwest. One is found mostly east of the Cascades. The other, known as Howell’s triteleia or bicolored triteleia, grows mainly west of the crest and in the Columbia River Gorge.
How to identify it
A slender plant with two or three narrow, grasslike leaves from the base and a smooth, leafless stalk up to about 30 inches tall. At the top is a loose umbel of bell-shaped flowers, each about three quarters of an inch to 1.4 inches long, light bluish purple to white, with the six tepals joined into a tube below and spreading into lobes above.
Look-alikes
Camas has blue flowers along a spike rather than in an umbel, and its six tepals are separate to the base. Ookow carries its lavender to bluish purple flowers in a tight, dense head rather than a loose cluster.
Habitat
Prairies, grassy slopes, rocky balds and forest openings that are often dry by summer, from the lowlands up to middle elevations.
Sightings in the forest
375 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on May 17, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →